


The Door Behind the Door

by raininshadows



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fall of Radiant Garden (Kingdom Hearts), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-21 08:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18139841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininshadows/pseuds/raininshadows
Summary: The fall of Radiant Garden, for Ienzo and for Lea.





	The Door Behind the Door

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serie11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/gifts).



This was it. The final experiment, the culmination of all those years of effort. Ansem's apprentices stood ready to open the door to the home world of the Heartless, and study where they truly originated from. 

Xehanort had insisted on doing this in the Grand Hall, claiming that it was closest to the heart of the world. Ienzo didn't quite understand how that worked - even if the heart of the world wasn't a physical place, he would have guessed that any sort of "spiritual essence" of Radiant Garden would be down closer to the village - but Xehanort had proven he knew what he was doing by now.

"That's it," Xehanort said. His voice was soft, but the walls picked it up and strengthened it. "You can see it, there in the wall carvings. The World Keyhole. Ansem must have known." It took a moment, but now that it was pointed out to him, Ienzo could see a vague outline. It looked like a keyhole, yes, but also like the symbol that had appeared on the artificially created Heartless. Before he could say anything, Xehanort was already beginning to speak. 

"Kingdom Hearts," he began, "give me this path. Show me the way to the heart of all worlds, from which all darkness originates." He was getting melodramatic again. Ienzo, who was thirteen and well past such things, tuned him out. Even's hand squeezed his shoulder painfully, snapping him back to reality as the wall began to glow. It wasn't in the shape of the keyhole Ienzo had expected, though. It was in the shape of the Heartless symbol. 

The gate tore open. It looked like nothing Ienzo had ever seen, like a section had been literally cut out of the world. The Heartless seethed out. 

Xehanort was smiling. He stood perfectly still, with his arms spread wide and his eyes closed, as the Heartless swarmed up and over him. He was still smiling when he began to collapse beneath them. 

Braig was trying to use his teleportation to dodge them, but there were far too many Heartless, and more boiling through the portal with every second. His guns were of almost no use against the throng of Heartless mobbing him. Dilan was having somewhat more success using his lances to clear the space around him, but Ienzo could see he was losing ground, and the tide showed no signs of slowing down. The Great Hall was filled with a dry shuffling noise, like snakes sliding along the floor. 

Even, still gripping Ienzo's shoulder, snapped "Follow me" and turned to run. Ienzo followed, throwing one last glance back at the other apprentices. Aeleus was moving to follow Even and Ienzo. Xehanort had vanished beneath a Heartless swarm. Braig was trying and failing to fight them off, using his guns as blunt weapons. Dilan was barely holding his own. 

Even pulled Ienzo down and through the castle, into the lab space. The shuffling noise of the Heartless grew fainter, but it was never entirely gone. Aeleus brought up the rear, looking behind them whenever they paused. 

"They're chasing us," Even gasped after several minutes. 

"It seems so," Aeleus replied, his quiet, serious voice lending no softness to the news. 

"Maybe they want two more than one," Even said, his voice taking on a tone Ienzo had never heard before. 

"Perhaps," Aeleus said. 

Even paused at the next intersection, glancing between the three options. Finally, he dragged Ienzo down one passage that dead-ended into a locked door. Swiping his ID card, he opened the door and pushed Ienzo inside the laboratory. He rummaged through one of the storage cabinets briefly before emerging with a few bottles. 

"You _stay here_ ," Even said to Ienzo, making firm eye contact. "Wait until Aeleus or I comes back. Don't open the door until then. Do you understand?"

Ienzo was about to ask what to do if one of the other apprentices came first, but then thought better of it. He didn't think he wanted to hear the answer to that yet. Instead, he just nodded. 

"They're coming," Aeleus advised from his position by the door. The shuffling noise was growing louder. 

Even stared at Ienzo for another moment, then turned to go, carrying his bottles. "Aeleus and I will try to lead them away. We'll come back if we can."

"Good luck," Ienzo said. He was bracing himself for a lecture on how luck was an illusion and only lost people money at cards, but instead, Even just nodded. The door closed itself quietly behind them, and locked with a _click_. 

There was no clock in the lab, so while he waited, Ienzo searched through the unlocked cabinets for something he could use as a weapon, in case the Heartless returned. He couldn't find anything he could be sure would actually work as a weapon, other than a large book titled _Thermodynamics: A Fundamental Guide_. He couldn't say how long it took him. The shuffling noise of the Heartless, although muffled by the door, seemed like it might be growing louder. There was a narrow window in the door; dragging a chair over, Ienzo stood on it to look through. 

At the intersection, a single Shadow stood, its antennae twitching. _Don't come this way, don't come this way,_ Ienzo thought, ducking out of sight. This must be an advance scout for the army of Heartless that had swept through the portal. If it could tell where he was, it would bring the rest of the Heartless, and they'd kill him. 

He crouched down in a corner, looking back at the narrow window of the door. It took several painfully long minutes before the dry noise of the Heartless approached, and then until the face of a massive spherical Heartless appeared in the window. It didn't seem to be looking for him; instead, it simply punched the door open. Although Ienzo was sure it was actually very close, the shrieking alarm seemed very far away as the Heartless swarmed towards him. 

The last thing he saw was a Shadow leaping towards him, claws extended. 

***

Xehanort had given Lea and Isa the day off. Some "great experiment" was coming to fruition, or something like that. He'd taken over the Grand Hall of the Castle and ejected everyone else except the other five first apprentices. 

Their first warning of the Heartless incursion was the screaming. The remaining staff of the castle had fled at top speed as soon as they realized what was happening, and while most had died, some had managed to outrun the Heartless tide. So the first warning that came to the people of Radiant Garden about their imminent apocalypse was a particularly fleet-footed maid, who entered the town at a run shrieking "Monsters! Monsters, in the castle, they're _coming_!" 

She was quickly followed by the sight of a dark tide, spotted with yellow glowing lights, bursting out of the castle. It was near silent, but no less ominous for it. The black wave rose against the morning sky and broke, rushing down across the ground towards the town of Radiant Garden. 

Anyone who had a weapon drew it, but mundane weapons were no use; after his knife failed to do anything, Lea found himself dragged by Isa over by one of the walls, where they might escape notice. Merlin's magic could hit them, could hurt them; most of the townspeople tried to hide inside his house, locking the doors and casting spells through closed windows. Lea and Isa found themselves wedged together into a corner of stone, apparently beyond the notice of the Heartless. The great tsunami had passed now, and they were left with a few straggling Shadows. 

"Something went wrong with the experiment," Isa whispered. 

"Yeah, no kidding," Lea muttered, managing to slide an arm free with some scraping. "You think we can get back up there?"

Isa poked his head out and around the corner momentarily. "I'm not sure. I think so. I hope so."

"Probably something at the Heartless manufactory. We can get there from under the castle." Lea pulled himself to his feet and began to move. 

The train system that they usually used to cross the chasm between the castle and the town wasn't working, so instead, Lea and Isa were faced with a long walk to Ansem's - now Xehanort's - castle. The crystal cave was empty now, the Heartless apparently spent on that first, massive surge. Lea had lost his pocket knife in the scramble, and picked up a Frisbee instead. Isa chose to take a bulky, oddly shaped sword that had apparently been knocked out of its owner's hand and never picked up. "You don't want a real weapon?" he asked, looking at Lea's Frisbee. 

Lea shrugged. "You saw how well the real weapons were working. At least I know how to use this thing. You're probably going to chop your own head off with that."

"I know how to use a claymore," Isa retorted. 

The Shadow in the middle of the road surprised them as much as they surprised it. Its antennae went straight up, and it turned to run. Lea's Frisbee curved straight at it, as if to chop its head off, but passed through it harmlessly. Isa swore and sprinted forwards. "You can't hurt it!" Lea called, hurrying to follow him. "That sword won't help either!"

"I know," Isa snapped. "It'll get help! We have to get to the castle now!" 

They ra for what seemed like hours, across the Great Divide and up into the depths of the castle. The foundations seethed with Heartless. Isa's sword couldn't hurt them, but it at least seemed solid enough to knock them away; Lea wasn't even sure why himself at this point, given its proven uselessness, but he kept hold of his Frisbee. The Heartless manufactory control area was on the other side of Xehanort's study, but the manufactory itself was open to the outside. 

It was also completely shut down. 

"Where are they coming from?" Isa shouted, now pivoting with every step to knock the Heartless away. 

"I don't know!" Lea replied, working to stay in the area Isa had just cleared. "Maybe the Grand Hall, that's what Xehanort was using for whatever he was doing today."

Isa swore. "It's up in the heart of the castle. We'll never make it." 

"We got here," Lea said. "We have to try!"

It was half a second's work to scramble up the barriers separating the manufactory floor from the control area, spurred on by vast amounts of adrenaline. From there, back through an area they'd hardly ever seen - through the computer terminal room, Xehanort's study, out into the tunnels. Around and up into the core of the castle. 

The Heartless were denser now, and Isa's space growing smaller. And the Heartless were changing. No longer were they just facing Shadows; now it was great long-limbed Heartless with no apparent faces, flying Heartless that cast magic like arrows, monsters the likes of which neither Lea nor Isa had seen before. 

Finally, the two boys arrived on one of the lifts. "Up here," Lea gasped. "Here and across a bit and then down. We're gonna make it, Isa. We can shut these things down." 

A flock of dragons appeared on the lift. Lea had seen dragons before; one of Ansem the Wise's books, from another world called the Enchanted Dominion, had a picture of them. These Heartless were small dragons, and Isa, already exhausted and dealing with a sword that couldn't even truly damage them, stood no chance. 

Lea's Frisbee went flying out across the open space and back to his hand. It distracted one of the dragons just long enough for Isa to punt it into the wall of the castle. But there were at least a dozen. It didn't take long before the last one had Isa cornered, pressed up against the barriers. They were good barriers, but they had never been meant to keep someone from being shoved through. They only kept someone from falling off accidentally. 

Lea almost expected a scream as Isa fell, but instead there was only the sound of the wind. 

The dragon turned to him. He threw the Frisbee again, and its gaze tracked the disc. The lift came to a stop, and the barrier section directly behind him opened. Lea turned, letting the Frisbee fall to the ground, and ran for the doors. Now he faced stairs. He took them two, even three at a time, up to the Great Hall, where he could stop this flood of monsters. 

The world had torn open at the back of the Grand Hall. He couldn't see the first six apprentices anywhere - they must have fallen to the Heartless where they stood, or run. Instead, all he could see was a perfect representation of the mark on the manufactured Heartless forming a kaleidoscopic rift in reality. 

Xehanort's experiment hadn't gone wrong, Lea realized. This had been the purpose. Perhaps the other apprentices had known, but Xehanort had chosen to unleash the Heartless on Radiant Garden and kill them all. He barely even noticed the pain as a many-limbed Heartless's claw went through his chest.


End file.
